Chinese state media say two men from a mainly Muslim ethnic group were
responsible for an attack Monday that left 16 police officers dead,
four days ahead the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

China's
official Xinhua news agency says the two Uighur men drove a dump truck
into a group of jogging policemen early Monday in the city of Kashgar.
The report says the attackers threw two home-made explosives at a
nearby police station and hacked at officers with knives.

Xinhua says the men, ages 28 and 33 years old, were later arrested. No civilians were hurt.

The
United States strongly condemned the attack. A State Department
spokesman, Gonzalo Gallegos, said the U.S. extends condolences to the
victims and their families and is saddened by the loss of life.

Prominent
Uighur dissident Rebiya Kadeer also issued a statement condemning all
acts of violence. The U.S.-based activist urged Chinese authorities to
refrain from using Monday's attack to justify a crackdown on peaceful
Uighurs.

Kadeer was one of five Chinese human rights activists who met last week with U.S. President George Bush at the White House.

There
has been no official claim of responsibility for Monday's attack in
Xinjiang, a northwestern region that is home to a large Muslim Uighur
population.

Chinese state media linked the attack to an
alleged plot by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a group dedicated
to gaining independence for Xinjiang. Chinese authorities say the
group has been planning to launch attacks in the days before the
Olympics.

Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang have been waging a
low-level rebellion against Chinese rule for years. Human rights
groups and Uighur groups in the West say Chinese authorities often use
terrorism as a pretext to persecute the country's Muslim minority.

In
the run-up to the Olympics, security has been tightened in the region.
Chinese authorities say they have broken up at least two Xinjiang-based
terror plots this year and say terrorism is the biggest security threat
to the Summer Games.

Late last month, a little-known Uighur
separatist group said it was behind bus bombings that killed two people
in Yunnan's Kunming city. Chinese authorities have dismissed the claim.